Nintendo lowers sales projections for 3DS and Wii U, expects to sell 1.5 million fewer consoles than before

For all this talk of how well the DS hardware line and Wii U are doing, Nintendo has had to lower their hardware sales projections for the Wii U console and 3DS handheld for the previous fiscal year ending March 31, 2013.

Originally, the Japanese company expected to sell 5.5 million Wii U consoles during that period, but that number has now been dropped significant to 4 million.

For the 3DS, projections have gone from 17.5 million units down to 15 million. For the DS, Nintendo went from expecting 2.5 million units to 2.3 million.

All that being said, Nintendo did raise its profit projections for the fiscal year. Previously, the company expected an estimated ¥5 billion ($75.2 million) in profits, but has since projected a higher figure of ¥14 billion ($153.8 million). Why? Foreign currency exchange gains are credited for this. Revenue projections, on the other hand, are down from ¥810 billion ($8.9 billion) to ¥670 billion ($7.4 billion).

Overall, Nintendo's outlook remains positive thanks to some healthy sales statistics both in hardware and software over the last nine months. Since last year's launch, New Super Mario Bros. 2 on 3DS has sold 5.96 million units worldwide, and Animal Crossing: New Leaf 3DS sold 2.73 million in Japan across two months.

Worldwide, the 3DS handheld has 12.71 million sales stretched across this fiscal year, with 39.56 million in software units. The Wii U, since launch, has sold 3.06 million units globally, and 11.69 million in software.

Wii U price is too high in Australia...It's like you're buying a new console with Sony price...

What do you mean? The most expensive version of the PS3 retailed for $999 here when it launched. The black Wii U's RRP in Australia is $429.95 (though can easily be found for a little less).

Yes, back in March 2007, PS3 60GB with 4 USBs and multi-media card reader was sold for $1000; it was, indeed, a lot cheaper than all other Blu-ray players which cost over $1000-2000 with no HDD at that time. PS3 was considered to be a technical masterpiece in late 2006 and early 2007.

But for Wii U, considering its sole function for gaming and the lack of versatility in-general, I think it's still expensive...I also expect a massive Wii U price cut later this year (just like 3DS price cut in 2011).

What I mean is a Black Wii U for $429 is not good enough for some, they would either go to PS3 or Xbox 360, because they're both a lot cheaper than Wii U which also lacks good launch games thus far!!